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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Not Wordless Wednesday - Margaret & Billy Hankins

Sunday's Memorial Day post about Perry Hankins raised questions from several people about what happened to his wife and son after Perry died from Tuberculosis before his son was one year old.

Margaret and Perry had been married no more than 18 months when he died in 1922 and he spent most of their marriage in hospitals. It is possible he never even saw his son but, at the most, he only had a few weeks with him.

Margaret grew up in western Kentucky in Hopkins County, as did Perry. She was the daughter of George and Ollie Hill. By 1930, she had married Arvin Garnett Bixler, moved to Franklin County in central Kentucky and had another child. From census records, it appears that A. G. grew up in Mercer County, also in central Kentucky so it is hard to imagine how they met. Based on their daughter's age (5 years old) in 1930, they probably married in 1923 or 1924.

A newspaper clipping (name of paper and publication date unknown) saved by Perry's mother tells that Billy was in Camp Shelby, Mississippi with the Kentucky National Guard. It mentions that he was a 1939 graduate of Good Shepherd High School (which is in Frankfort) and had entered the National Guard "last spring" (possibly right after graduating from high school). The clip also notes that his father, the late William Perry Hankins, was stationed at Camp Shelby in 1917.

A. G. Bixler died in Frankfort on 21 Jan 1953 leaving Margaret a widow for a second time. Billy provided the information for his death certificate. At some point, Billy and Margaret both moved to Florida. She was 76 years old when she died in Orange County, Florida on 8 Dec 1971. She was buried beside A. G. in the Frankfort Cemetery.

I don't know if Billy married or had a family but he died on 12 Dec 1997 in Lake County, Florida. He was 75 years old.